West of Bathurst

Before I am once again admonished by various psychiatrists and psychologists, I should just point out that I do not share Marie's contempt for "shrinks" or her tendency to refer to psychiatric institutions by various disparaging monikers. Regard all the sneering as an aspect of her character, not as my personal "take that!" to psychiatry.

Re. the write-a-thon:

$1,121.66 is in all probability our final total, though I'll have to wait for confirmation. I was pleased that we got to spend a bit of time at $1,066.66 last night, as the year 1066 is quite important to English scholars.

I'll do a last post on this subject on Monday. For now, it is worth noting that Clarion has exceeded its $15,000 goal; a lot of donations came in this week. Hurrah for all the contributions from WoB readers.

I have achieved my write-a-thon goal of editing my manuscript into submission and preparing it for the ridiculously long and gruelling process of getting it rejected by every viable Canadian publisher.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Panel 1: In the title panel of this Sunday-style colour comic, we see Barbara talking on the phone as she picks up a student essay. Next to her is an oversized version of an essay's title page. It reads: "How to say Nothing in 1,000 Words." Someone has used red pen to write "West of Bathurst" and "by Kari Maaren" on the title page.

Barbara: Here's one.

Panel 2:

Barbara [reads]: "Since the dawn of time, people have been writing stories with characters in them."

Panel 3:

Barbara [reads]: "In this essay, I will discuss how Dickens utilises imagery, setting, and language to discuss what he is discussing."

Panel 4:

Barbara [reads]: "Secondly, this story does not have a hero, which makes it a bad story."

Panel 5:

Barbara [reads]: "There are things in the poem that don't exist in real life, and therefore, the poet is trying to say that ghosts are among us and are very meaningful."

Panel 6:

Barbara [reads]: "The theme of this novel is mystery. Another theme is darkness and anguish. Also true love."

Marie [on phone]: Barbara. Barbara!

Panel 7:

Marie [on phone]: I said, "I'm trapped in the nuthouse; cheer me up," not, "I'm trapped in the nuthouse; deprive me of all hope for the future of humanity."

Barbara: I do get those confused occasionally.

Alt-Text: It is amazing how very, very vague an essay about a specific aspect of a specific text can get.

Go to commentary